Steinbach to add new police officer

Steinbach city council has approved a plan to add another police officer to the Steinbach RCMP detachment. Council discussed the move, which comes with an approximately $110,000 price tag, at their Tuesday night meeting.

It is the city’s hope its request for staffing will be filled effective Dec. 1 of this year. The addition will increase the number of officers funded by the city from 15 to 16.

Councillor Cari Penner noted that crime rates between 2012 and 2013 were comparable but added that the city’s increasing population warrants new officer funding.

Penner also pointed to last week’s announcement by the provincial government which proposed to fund 10 new RCMP officers in rural Manitoba. She and Councillor Michael Zwaagstra suggested that one or two of those officers should be designated for this region, since the rural side of the Steinbach detachment serves areas like the RM of Hanover, which are growing in population at a similar rate to the city.

Council also approved the city’s RCMP priorities for the coming year which include three areas of focus: organized crime/drugs; property offences, crime reduction, break and enter, vandalism; and police, traffic, community relations (visibility of police).